Lewis Hamilton
:"Hamilton" redirects here. For other uses, see Hamilton (disambiguation). |birthplace = Stevenage, England, UK |nationality = |status = Active |currentteam = |currentcar = 44 |2014Position = 1st |2014Pts = 384 |image = |firstrace=2007 Australian Grand Prix |firstwin=2007 Canadian Grand Prix |lastrace= |lastwin=2015 Canadian Grand Prix}} Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985 in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom) is a British racing driver who currently drives in Formula One for the team, having driven for from to . He is a two-time Formula One World Drivers' Champion, taking the title in with McLaren and in with . He was quite successful in kart racing, securing a Formula One contract at a very young age after being entered into the McLaren development program. He was the youngest driver to win the Formula One World Championship at the age of 23 years and 300 days, a record that has since then been broken by Sebastian Vettel. Hamilton is often labelled as the first 'black' Formula One racing driver. In , he was racially, verbally attacked by fans in Spain and a website. This led to the Race Against Racism campaign, launched by the FIA. Throughout his career, he has had a fair bit of visits to the stewards. At one point during his season, he considered leaving the sport after lying to the stewards about an incident during the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. During the season, he had a strong rivalry with Felipe Massa on . The pair came together several times during the season, but later patched things up. In , he signed a contract with for three years. He replaced the retiring Michael Schumacher, as Nico Rosberg's teammate. The two had previously been partnered in their karting careers. For the season, drivers were required to choose a permanent racing number. Hamilton chose 44 because that had been his number during his karting career. Background Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England, UK to Carmen Larbalestier and Anthony Hamilton. Hamilton was named after the American runner Carl Lewis. His parents divorced when he was two years old and when raised by his mother with his half-sisters Nicola and Samantha. When he was twelve years old, his father gained custody for Hamilton. He was raised by his father and step-mother Linda and lived with his step-brother Nicolas Hamilton. His step brother began his racing career in 2011 racing in the Renault Clio Cup. Hamilton's father was responsible for Lewis' interest in racing, after he purchased him a remote controlled racing car. Hamilton took entered this car in many competitions in 1991, winning some against adult competitors. Career Before Formula One (Left) and Lewis Hamilton (Right) partnered on TeamMBM.com in 2000]] In 1993, Hamilton began his racing career racing karts in the Cadet class championship. He first met the team boss, Ron Dennis at the age of ten when Hamilton asked him for an autograph. Dennis called Hamilton after he had won the Super One series championship and signed him to the McLaren development program. This program was a contract that promised Hamilton a seat with the McLaren Formula One team at a later date, which made Hamilton to the youngest driver to secure a Formula One contract. Hamilton advanced through the different ranks of karts and eventually joined the TeamMBM.com karting team in 2000, where he was partnered with Nico Rosberg. In 2001, Michael Schumacher made a special appearance in kart racing and raced against Hamilton. "He's a quality driver, very strong and only 16. If he keeps this up I'm sure he will reach F1. It's something special to see a kid of his age out on the circuit. He's clearly got the right racing mentality." - Michael Schumacher In 2004, Hamilton was signed with the Formula Three team Manor Motorsport. He returned the sport again the following year with ASM Formule 3, managing to win 75% of his races that season and winning the championship. Because of his success in Formula Three, ART Grand Prix signed him for the 2006 in GP2. He was dominant and won the season. In late September 2006, he was signed with the McLaren Formula One team as the secondary driver. 2007 Hamilton was offered a position on for the season, racing alongside the defending World Champion, Fernando Alonso. Hamilton became a piece of history during his first Formula One race at the Australian Grand Prix, as he finished on the podium (3rd position) and became the thirteenth driver to finish on the podium in their début. Hamilton then placed second in the following four grand prix events, taking the lead in the World Championship and becoming the youngest driver to lead the World Championship. He earned his first pole position in the Canadian Grand Prix, followed by his first victory on race day. This was followed by another victory at the United States Grand Prix the next weekend. Following his third place finish in his home Grand Prix, he tied Jim Clark's record of 9 consecutive podium finishes. Later in the season, he was in a terrible accident while qualifying for the European Grand Prix. He was later released from the medical centre and cleared to race. During the race, the weather conditions escalated and Hamilton slid off of the track and into a gravel trap. He was lifted from the trap with a crane and placed on the track to rejoin the race. He was the only driver to rejoin the race after receiving mechanical assistance before the FIA banned this action. The race was later stopped because the conditions were too severe, meaning Hamilton would finish in 9th position. This was the first time that he was not on the podium since joining Formula One. Hamilton faced his first race retirement during the Chinese Grand Prix after skidding off the track and into a gravel trap on lap 30. Now unable to receive mechanical assistance, he was stuck in the trap. Hamilton was unable to win the World Championship, finishing only one point behind Kimi Räikkönen. 2008 During pre-season testing in the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the upcoming season, Hamilton was verbally abused by Spanish spectators wearing black wigs, face-paint and t-shirts. In response to these attacks, the FIA began the "Race Against Racism" campaign. The attacks originated because of Hamilton's rivalry with his previous teammate, Fernando Alonso. "In 2008 we cannot have these kind of people in our world. It's not only formula one, not only sport, it's normal life as well." - Fernando Alonso At the start of the season, Hamilton signed a five year multi-million pound contract with . His teammate for the season would be Heikki Kovalainen after leaving at the end of the 2007 season. Hamilton was off to a great start of the season after gaining the pole position and winning the Australian Grand Prix. He regained the lead of the World Championship standings after winning the Monaco Grand Prix. He later gained the most meaningful win of his career in the British Grand Prix under poor weather conditions. "It is by far the best victory I've ever had. The conditions were bad and as I was driving I thought, 'If I win this, it will be the best race I've ever done'. On my last lap, I could see the crowd starting to rise to their feet, and I was just praying, praying, praying I could get the car round. I want to dedicate this to my family because we all know I've had some troubles of late, so this is for them." - Lewis Hamilton Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix. He would later loose this victory after the FIA penalized him for cutting a chicane to avoid hitting Räikkönen. He was handed a 25 second penalty and dropped down to third position. Hamilton won the World Championship in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Hamilton required a 5th place finish in the race to win the Championship. It looked as though he was not going to complete his goal, as he was in 7th position on the final lap, but he managed to make a double pass on the final corner and become the youngest World Champion. He grabbed the Championship only one point above Felipe Massa. 2009 It seemed like Hamilton would have a poor start to the season when he started from 18th position on the grid because the team decided to change gearboxes during the qualification session. He had better luck in the race, finishing 3rd after Jarno Trulli received a penalty for passing Hamilton while the safety car was on the track. During the stewards' hearing for Trulli's penalty, Hamilton and told the FIA that they did not allow Trulli to pass, but a later investigation proved the opposite. Hamilton was then disqualified from the 2009 Australian Grand Prix and lost his 3rd position. According to Hamilton, this was the "hardest week of his life" and he had considered leaving Formula One. To prevent Hamilton from leaving the sport, McLaren's sporting director, Dave Ryan was forced to take full blame for the incident. The rest of the season was poor, as McLaren attempted to catch up to the rest of the teams' technologically. Hamilton would then suffer his first mechanical retirement in his Formula One career during the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He managed to finish 5th in the World Championship, a weaker finish than his previous seasons. 2010 For the 2010 season, Hamilton would be racing alongside a new teammate, Jenson Button. The 2010 season was followed by frequent visits to the stewards for warnings. He first visited the stewards after the Malaysian Grand Prix, after weaving down a straight to prevent Vitaly Petrov from using the slipstream to gain time on Hamilton. He again visited the stewards in China after he was involved in a pit accident with Sebastian Vettel, but he managed to keep his 2nd place finish. Hamilton was reprimanded and his team fined during qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix when he was forced to stop his car on the track because of a lack of fuel. He went on to win the race and earn McLaren their third 1-2 finish of the season. Drama sparked in the European Grand Prix between his ex-teammate, Fernando Alonso. Alonso accused Hamilton of not following the safety car to gain time. This lead to a drive-through penalty for Hamilton after a lengthy investigation. as still angry because they claimed that the penalty did not alter the race results. The pair later made up: "We are in touch – he has my number and I have his number. I just messaged him to see how he was doing and he said everything's cool. He knows how the racing world works, and this is a tough year." - Lewis Hamilton Hamilton's record as the youngest driver to win a grand prix event was broken during the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix by 's Sebastian Vettel 2011 During a press conference, Hamilton received some negative attention after calling "just a drinks company": "I am 100 per cent certain that neither McLaren nor Ferrari will ever let that happen. They have not been there as long as our teams. Our teams have got status they would like to keep. For many, many years it has been McLaren and Ferrari at the front and now we have got a new team that has come and knocked us off the top. But I am really certain that either team will do absolutely everything in their power to make sure they can remain at the top. Red Bull are not a manufacturer, they are a drinks company. It's a drinks company versus McLaren/Ferrari history. I don't know what their plan is. Our team is building to become a bigger manufacturer, like Ferrari, and I can only see our team being there for a ridiculous amount of time. It is a pure-bred racing team." - Lewis Hamilton Hamilton won his first race of the season in China. ]] He was punished by the stewards multiple times during the season. He felt that he was being attacked by the FIA: "It's an absolute frickin' joke. I've been to see the stewards five times out of six this season." - Lewis Hamilton Hamilton was involved in the dramatic Monaco Grand Prix. He bumped Felipe Massa in the hotel hairpin and received a 20 second penalty, but was later crashed by Jaime Alguersuari. His car would have been damaged out of the race, but a red flag for another accident allowed the team to repair the damaged rear wing. Tempers flared after his teammate, Jenson Button bumped him into the pit wall while defending his position. The pair later made up. in the 2011 Monaco Grand Prix]] There would be more drama after Hamilton wrecked Felipe Massa in the Singapore Grand Prix. Massa stated that Hamilton was "incapable of using his brain". Hamilton later told Massa to leave him alone. He tangled again with Massa in the Japanese Grand Prix that year where he told the press that Massa needed to "grow up" and insulted the Brazilian's career. This feud continued for the duration of the season, until the final race of the season in Brazil where the pair hugged during the post-race conference. "I was pleased that Lewis came around to see me. It was a very nice gesture on his part." - Felipe Massa 2012 Hamilton continued his McLaren career alongside Jenson Button. The season was off to a great start, after Hamilton qualified for pole position for the first race of the season in Australia. However, he was unable to win the race and finished the race in 3rd position. The same thing happened in the following race at Malaysia, gaining pole and 3rd place finish. Hamilton finished 3rd once again in the next race at China, making this his third consecutive third place finish. This streak came to an end in the 2012 Bahrain Grand Prix, when Hamilton finished in 8th position after suffering from many poor pitstops. There was controversy after Hamilton was forced off of the track while attempting to overtake Nico Rosberg. No penalty was given to either driver and Rosberg won the Grand Prix. ]] Hamilton had qualified in pole position for the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix, but was forced to stop track-side because of low fuel. After this incident had occurred during the 2010 Canadian Grand Prix qualifying, the FIA had introduced a new rule banned this. Hamilton was then excluded from the qualifying results and forced to start for P24 on the grid. Despite this set back, he still managed to finish inside the points positions. After the drama in Monaco this previous season, it was important for Hamilton to had a clean and high finishing race. He succeeded in doing so, finishing the event in 5th position. His first victory of the season came in the 2012 Canadian Grand Prix, after he took the lead from Fernando Alonso with only 6 laps remaining. He snatched he second win of the season in the Hungarian Grand Prix, with pole position and the win. ]] In the following race at Belgium, Hamilton and three others were involved in an accident in the first corner. After an investigation, it was determined that Romain Grosjean was the cause of the accident and was handed a one race suspension. Following this unfortunate accident, Hamilton was gifted with his third win of the season in the following race in Italy. He was set to win another race in Singapore, but suffered a mechanical failure midway through the race. In late September, it was announced that the 2012 season would be Hamilton's final season with , as the five year contract signed in would expire at the end of the season. Mclaren would not be renewing the contract. Shortly after this announcement, Hamilton signed a three-year contract with , starting for the 2013 season. He would be replacing the legendary Michael Schumacher who was retiring once again from the sport. Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix and gained a pole position for the final race of the season in Brazil. He was involved in an accident during the closing laps for the race and was forced to retire, putting him into 4th position for the drivers' championship. 2013 Hamilton's three year contract with began for the season, as he partnered with Nico Rosberg. The season began average for Hamilton, managing to earn and fifth position and two third positions in the first three races of the season. On the third race of the season, in China Hamilton earned his first pole position with team Mercedes. At the Monaco Grand Prix, teams and filed a complaint with the FIA. They claimed that Mercedes had participated in an illegal tyre test. The FIA didn't penalize the drivers or team, but did warn the team about breaking the regulations. after a collision with Sebastian Vettel]] Hamilton achieved a pole position and win in the Hungarian Grand Prix, his first win for the team and the first British Mercedes driver to win a race since Stirling Moss in . Hamilton suffered his first and only retirement of the season in the Japanese Grand Prix, after colliding with Sebastian Vettel on the first lap of the race. Hamilton finished the season in 4th position in the Drivers' Championship, finishing two positions above his teammate who finished 6th. The combined effort of Hamilton and Rosberg placed Mercedes in 2nd position for the Constructors' Championship, this being the teams highest finish since their return to the sport. 2014 With the return of the V6 Turbocharged engines, all of the teams taking part in the season were required to redesign their cars. During pre-season testing, had the best cars and were able to put in the most miles. For the 2014 season, drivers were also required to select a permanent number for their car. Hamilton chose number 44 because it was his number when he races karts. For the first race of the season, Hamilton snatched the pole position and was predicted to win the race since he had the most competitive car. However, things when poorly when Hamilton lost the lead to his teammate Nico Rosberg right off of the grid. Hamilton suffered from some engine issues, and was forced to retire to the pits on lap 2, leaving his teammate to win the race. Things improved in the next four races, winning all four of them and putting him in the lead of the World Championship. In the final qualifying session in Monaco, his teammate Nico Rosberg spun off the track, which brought out yellow flags and stopped Hamilton from getting pole position. There was controversy over this, as many felt Rosberg spun off the track to prevent Hamilton from getting pole position. However, Rosberg kept pole position after the stewards ruled that he did not commit offense. Hamilton finished second behind Rosberg in the race. While driving in the first qualifying session for the , Hamilton crashed into the barrier at the Sachs corner after receiving a brake failure, having qualified 15th. However, a gearbox change dropped him down to 20th, but he managed to finish the race in third place. He was forced to start from the pit lane in Hungary when an oil leak caused his car to set on fire before he could set a time during qualifying. However, he was able to finish the race in third place ahead of Rosberg, even though he was given team orders to let Rosberg overtake him. In the , Hamilton snatched the lead from Rosberg at the start, but later received a puncture on lap 2 after Rosberg clipped his tyre at Les Combes. The debris damaged his car floor, forcing him to eventually retire from the race at the end of lap 39. Hamilton set pole position in Italy, but fell back into fourth place at the start due to a technical problem. However, he was to able to catch up, and took the lead after Rosberg went straight across the chicane at Turn 1, going on to win the race. Hamilton took his seventh win of 2014 as well as the Drivers' Championship in the , after Rosberg retired with electrical problems. Hamilton went on to take three more consecutive wins in Japan, Russia and the United States, earning his 32nd career victory compared to other British drivers. He finished second behind Rosberg in Brazil, after he spun off the track on lap 28 while Rosberg was taking a pit stop, which Hamilton took his pit stop at the end of the same lap the spin occurred on. He won the final race in Abu Dhabi, becoming World Champion of 2014 as well as the fourth British driver to win more than one title. He stated in the podium interview that "it is the greatest day of my life." 2015 Despite being able to choose #1 for after becoming World Champion in 2014, Hamilton decided to keep #44 as his racing number, explaining that it is his favourite number and had been used in his previous days of kart racing, and later saying that #1 is irrelevant for him. He will also write an exclusive column of the season for BBC Sport. Personal life Hamilton announced in October 2007 that he had plans to move to Switzerland because he wanted to keep away from the media scrutiny experiencing him while he was living in the United Kingdom. He also explained on the Parkinson television show that another reason was because of taxation along with wanting more privacy. Hamilton began a relationship with Pussycat Dolls lead singer Nicole Scherzinger in November 2007 after first meeting her at the 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards, where he was one of the presenters. It was announced in January 2010 that they broke up so to focus on their different careers, although they were both seen together at the 2010 Turkish and Canadian Grands Prix. They split for a second time in 2011, but reunited again in January 2012. However, they broke up again in July 2013, but appeared to get back together in November 2013, being a couple through November 2014. However, in February 2015, they were reported to have broke up for a fourth time. In early 2012, Hamilton transferred his personal residence from Switzerland to Monaco, also being a tax haven. A waxwork of Hamilton in his McLaren race suit was unveiled by Madame Tussauds on 18 March 2009, costing about £150,000 and taking over six months to make. Hamilton lent his voice to the car version of himself in the 2011 Disney/Pixar film Cars 2. He also starred in McLaren's animated series Tooned alongside Jenson Button and Alexander Armstrong. Formula One Statistical Overview F1 Career Record Statistics Correct as of the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Wins Career Results | | | | | | | | |9th| | | | | | | |109|2nd}} | |13th| | | | |10th| | | | | | | |12th| | |98|1st}} | | | |9th|12th|13th|16th|18th| | | |12th| | | | |49|5th}} | | | |14th| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |240|4th}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |227|5th}} | | | | | | |19th| | | | | | | | | | | | |190|4th}} | | | |12th| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |189|4th}} | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |384|1st}} |- |- Notes External links *Official Website *Lewis Hamilton on Manipe F1 Category:World Championship Winning Drivers Category:British Drivers Category:Mercedes Drivers Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:2007 Début Drivers Category:McLaren Drivers Category:Lewis Hamilton Category:Current Drivers